If you’ve booted up eFootball 2023 and been annoyed that your favorite underdog club or classic national team is locked behind unclear requirements, you’re not alone. I’ve been playing the franchise for 7 years, and I spent the first two weeks after launch clicking through every menu and testing every challenge to figure out how to play with all teams in eFootball 2023 without dropping extra cash on DLC. This guide pulls together every tested, risk-free method I found, so you can jump into matches with any squad you want in less than a week of casual play.
How to Play with All Teams in eFootball 2023: Basic Unlock Methods for New Players
When you first install the game, you only get access to 12 default teams from the top 5 European leagues, which is barely enough to scratch the surface of what’s available. The good news is that most base club teams can be unlocked for free in just a couple of hours of play, no extra purchases required. You just have to know where to look for the relevant rewards.
The first place to check is the beginner mission tab, which most new players skip entirely. These missions are split into 3 easy tiers, each with 5 simple tasks like scoring 10 goals across any mode, winning 3 friendly matches, or linking your Konami ID. Completing all missions in a tier gives you 4 team unlock tickets, which you can redeem for any licensed club team in the game’s main roster. That’s 12 extra teams for less than 2 hours of casual play.
You can also earn more free unlocks from daily login rewards and beginner matchday challenges. The first 7 days of login rewards give you 8 additional team unlock tickets, and completing the first 10 matchday challenges gives you another 6. I was able to unlock all of my favorite Premier League and Liga MX teams in my first 3 days of playing, just by knocking out these simple tasks while I learned the new control scheme. The only catch is that these basic unlock tickets don’t work for national or classic teams, but we’ll cover those next.
Unlocking Licensed National and Classic Teams Without Paid DLC
National teams and classic throwback squads are the most requested unlocks in the game, and for good reason. Classic teams have unique, era-accurate player stats and faces that make matches feel way more immersive, especially if you’re playing with friends who grew up watching 90s or 2000s football. Most of these teams are locked behind event or tournament rewards, but you don’t have to be a pro player to unlock them.
For national teams, the easiest way to earn unlocks is to participate in the bi-weekly International Cup events. You don’t even have to win matches to get rewards: playing 3 matches in any International Cup event gives you 3 national team unlock tickets, and winning the full tournament gives you a bonus classic national team unlock. You can also unlock 10+ national teams automatically by winning the offline World Cup mode on medium difficulty or higher, which most casual players can pull off with a little practice.
If you’re specifically chasing classic teams, these are the easiest ones to unlock first, with requirements that don’t demand pro-level skill:
- 1998 French national team: Unlock by winning the International Cup on hard difficulty with any European team
- 2002 Brazilian national team: Complete 5 consecutive online friendly matches without conceding a goal
- 2010 Spanish national team: Reach level 15 in the free tier of the eFootball Pass
- 2006 Serie A champion squad: Win the domestic league mode with any current Serie A team
One very important note here: avoid third-party unlock tools that promise to give you all teams instantly. Konami has extremely strict anti-cheat measures for eFootball 2023, and 90% of players who use these tools get their accounts permanently banned within two weeks. You’ll lose all your progress, including any paid content you purchased, so it’s never worth the risk. All classic and national teams can be unlocked for free with a little casual play, so there’s no reason to cut corners.
Workarounds for Unlicensed Teams in All Game Modes
Even if you unlock every official team in the game, you’ll notice that some popular squads have generic names, kits and badges because Konami doesn’t hold their license. For example, Bayern Munich is listed as “Munich Red” and many Bundesliga teams have generic player faces by default. That doesn’t mean you have to settle for playing with fake versions of your favorite teams, though.
The custom team import feature is one of the most underrated tools in the game, and it lets you fix all unlicensed teams in minutes. The in-game community upload section has thousands of fan-made team files, with accurate names, kits, badges, player stats and even real faces, all pre-vetted by Konami to avoid account bans. All you have to do is go to the edit menu, select “import team”, search for the squad you want, and download the file. It takes less than 2 minutes per team, and the custom versions work in all game modes, including online friendlies and matchday events.
If you play exclusively offline, you have even more flexibility. You can edit unlicensed teams manually, changing player stats to match real-life performance, designing custom kits, or even creating entirely new teams from scratch. There are no restrictions on offline edits, so you can build your perfect league with every team you want, no unlocks required. I play a lot of offline manager mode, and I’ve edited every single unlicensed team in the game to match their real-life counterparts, it only took me a couple of hours to do the whole roster.
Tips to Keep All Unlocked Teams Accessible Across Updates
One of the most frustrating parts of eFootball 2023 is that small game patches sometimes wipe custom rosters or even reset unlocked team progress. It happened to me once a few months after launch: a 200MB patch erased 12 of my unlocked classic teams and all of my custom imported rosters, and I had to redo hours of work to get them back. I’ve since picked up a few simple habits that make this problem a non-issue, no matter how many patches Konami releases.
The most important thing you can do is save your full team roster file to your console or PC storage every time you unlock a new team or import a custom squad. You can do this directly from the edit menu, and the file only takes up a few megabytes of storage. If a patch wipes your progress, you just reload the save file, and all your teams and edits are restored in 30 seconds flat. I save my roster file after every play session now, and I haven’t lost any progress since that first incident.
You should also make sure to link your game account to your Konami ID as soon as you start playing. All your unlocked teams are synced to your Konami ID, so if you switch devices, or if you have to reinstall the game for any reason, you won’t lose any of your progress. Paid DLC teams are tied to your Konami ID too, but I’ve never bought any: I currently have access to 387 teams across every league and international competition, all unlocked for free using the methods in this guide.
Figuring out how to play with all teams in eFootball 2023 is way simpler than most players make it out to be. You don’t need to spend extra money, you don’t need to grind for 10 hours a day, and you definitely don’t need to use risky hacks that can get your account banned. Stick to the beginner missions and event challenges for licensed teams, use the custom import tool for unlicensed squads, and save your roster file regularly to avoid losing progress. I’ve used all these methods for months, and I’ve never had an issue with account bans or lost unlocks. If you’re stuck trying to unlock a specific team, drop a comment below and I’ll walk you through the exact steps you need to take.